US104379A - Nicholas j - Google Patents

Description

Figl N. PETERS, PHOTOALITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON D C4 l v eight spaces,

faire 1 `NioHoLAs;T.,vANDnR WEYDE, or NEW Yoan, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. `104,379,dated Jane 14, 18( 0 antellatrell une 3, 1870.

GAME.

Thescliciule. referred to in these` Letters Patent and making part of the Same.

To all whom it (may concern @Be it known `that I, NicHoLAs Josera'Vasnnn` i WEYDE, of the citycount`y, andState of' New York,

v i 4have invented anew and entertaining Game, which I `have named ,B1ockade,` or Naval Ohess; and I do hereby declare that the'following is a full and exact description thereof," reference-being had to thel accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, in whichv y y Eiguresl, 2,' and 3, represent three different ,forms orstyles of jboard on which the gaine is to be played. The simplest" form of blockade board, fig. 1, consists of hexagone so placed together as to have a honeycomb appearance.

In fig.` 2, circles are `used instead of Iiexag'ons; this gives the board moreof an ornamental appearance,

while it does not in the least change the relative posit-ion1 of the spaces. y

Squares or rectangles `may be used, as in iig. 3,

wall of regular masonry.`

These three forms of boa-rd :have all six lines of i motion, instead :of four, asn clicsspor two, as in draughts. .If opposite or retrograde moves are counted separately, these numbers should be doubled.

` `Qn inspection of the diawingit will be seen that this game is somewhat similar ,t chess or 4draughts, being, like them, played with pieces on a board, and,

i infact, an intermediate gaine as far asv the difficulty of learning to'play, and playing the gaine, is concerned, i inuch`mo"`rc `varied than the monotonous gaine of draughts, yetless.intricatethan that of chess. It is `superior to either in. regard toits entertaining qualities when its simplicity istaken into eonsidei'ation.`

In blockade, each player has eight pieces; inchess `he `has sixteen In the former no pieces are captured;

`in the latterall the pieces but one are 'subject to capture. Consequently, `in blockade, or naval chess, a

" v playrcangive all his attention to his plan of attack for defense, andis not continually annoyed by the loss i sundrypieces, as is the case in the old game of chessl The rules of the `gaine are here appended, which will givea clearer idea of its peculiarities.

:The board ou which the game is played shouldconsists of sixty-four hexagoiis, and so placed together as L tio have a diamondfshapedoutline.

In counting the spaces from either end of the board,

y z one in the extreme cornei of each acute angle, then two side by side, three,four, andso on, until the middlecross-row is reached, in which there should be the endones being in the obtuseangles atteithersidc. p y, y 4

`As every space is surrounded bysix others, all their edges joining it and each other, `itis necessary to use p p p widthof the board.

. which gives it the appearance ot" bricks oi' stones in a Position ofthe Pieces.

Each player has eight pieces on the board at the beginning, andai! through the game, i. e., one adiniral, three commodorcs, and four captains. The pieces of cach player are, at the beginning ot 4the game, placed respectively in the sainer position,

and directly opposite each othcr,'onc set in cach oi" the extreme corners of the board.

The position of the admiral at the beginning ofthe U game is on the corner space of the acute angle. The next two spaces are at the beginning of the game uu-4 occupied, so that the admiral can be moved in two ways.` The three coniinodores occupy the three Spaces which come next, and lic in one line parallel to the The four captains cach occupy one of the four spaces next in line to thc conimodores.

' The rest'of the spaces are, at the beginning et' the gaine, unoccupied.

l tllores of the Pieces.

, u'The pieces do not capture as in chess, draugh'ts, l and inauy other games, nor are any of them taken from the board in any way from end of the game.

`The admiral is inoved but one space at a time, and in any direction, backward, forward, .and sideways, similar to' the king in chess. It has sixv moves at its commandY if the adjacent spaces lare unoccupied, and 'when itl is away from the sides of the board, as shown in iig. 6. Vheii a player is Vunable to movie his admilral, he is not allowed to move any other piece, and he `the same colored space .as it was at the beginning .oil

the gaine, like the bishop iircliess, but its move is `more like that `of the knight in chess. It has six moves at its command-when away from the sides'oi' the board. It is the onlypiece, which, like the knight in chess, may pass over otherpieccs.

The captain v (each player having four)is"m0ved the beginning to the in straight lines over the joining sides of the spaces l any distance parallel to thc sides of the board and across, being in six differentv directions, but it'cannot pass over a piece which stands in its line of motion.

The move of this piece is similar to the castle yor rook in chess. The captains have each twenty-one spaces to move to when on any space of the middle cross-row.

f l'Vinn'ing ofthe Game.

Each player should try to blockade or hem in his opponents admiral, so that he cannot be moved, for if he does this he wins the game, and he must prevent his opponent from blockading his admiral or he will lose the game. y

'lhe blockade may be eli'ected by either player surrounding his oppe ients admiral with his pieces, or the opponents pieces may unintentionally help, or may entirely surround their own admiral, so that llc cannot be moved. f

When the admini is on a space which is not a sid space, it will take six pieces to blockade him when on a side diagonal, it `will take but four; when in an obtuse angle, it will take but three; and when in an acute angle, it will take but two.

A player cannot move any of his pieces if his admiral is unable to move; consequently, if' he is blockaded when some of his own pieces help to blockade him, he cannot move those pieces to free his admiral, because his admiral is unable to move. It" the admirals are within one ortwo spaces of eaeh other, and

either player, say white, moves one of his pieces so as to blockade both admirals at the same time, he, White, is the victor, for although whites admiral is blockaded, it is not whites turn to move.

There isno way of preventing a player from so placingr his pieces that it will be impossible for his opponent to get at the admiral; but his opponent, sa'y white, under these or any other circumstances, may challenge black to place his admiral on any space of the three middle cross-rows; it' black refuses, white may claim the game inten moves, the moves of one player being here meant; but if black complies, he has the privilege of tivo additional moves after having changed the position of his admiral, as challenged. The player challenged' has the privilege of placing his admiral on any space he may chose 'within the three middle crossrows.

I claim- 1. The shape of the board, as specified.

2. The moves of the pieces on thexboard, as described.

N. J'. VANDER WEYDE.

Witnesses: y

Any H. SoHUL'r, ELLIOT SANnFonD.

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